US: gas prices continue to decline

Even as international conflicts in petrol reach regions like Iraq or Ukraine rage on, the US gas price trend is towards a decline, with analysts predicting it would gather pace soon.

According to a forecast made by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the prices are expected to decline across the nation during the third quarter as smaller refinery margins are expected to offset higher crude oil prices. The EIA says regular gasoline retail prices could average $3.54 per gallon in 2014 and $3.45 per gallon in 2015, after in 2013 they leveled at $3.51 per gallon.

“You’ll see some price increases after 40 days of steady decreases, but this is not a second wind for lofty gas prices,” stressed Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for GasBuddy. “We may see sub-$3 gal prices disappear in some states where they popped up recently, but those numbers will be back in autumn.”

Both AAA and GasBuddy.com said that the national average this week for gas price was of $3.47 for a gallon of regular unleaded, a 15 cents slide from last month. Also, the price compares to the national average price in 2013 (for the same period) of $3.55 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. The Midwest was the only region that had a higher average, because of problems at four refineries.